. >> reporter: with colonel jeanie flynn-leavitt piloting the strike eagle from behind the visor i could not be in more capable hand. not only is she a decorated fighter pilot, she has broken through gender barriers that can only be called legendary. >> my whole childhood i dreamed about flying. i went to air shows. i loved looking up and seeing airplanes. and i always wanted to fly. >> reporter: the world of combat aviators was the most male, testosterone driven culture imaginable. women were welcomed. >> this is what i call a target-rich environment. >> reporter: but not in the cockpit. it wasn't just movies like "top gun." military brass argued fiercely against allowing females in combat aircraft. >> if you want to make a combat unit ineffective, assign some women to it. >> reporter: or so they thought. like it or not, things were about to change. >> the secretary of defense has ordered that all the services permit will tiomen to fly. >> for the air force the young lieutenant who garage waited at the top of her flight training class would be the first. >> i realize not every person wa